Acquisition of Turkish Citizenship by Marriage

Date: 03/05/2015Att. Levent Cengizlevent.cengiz@cengiz.av.trAcquisition of Turkish Citizenship by MarriageI. IntroductionAcquisition of Turkish citizenship by marriage is regulated in Article 16 of Turkish Citizenship Law and Articles 25-31 of the Regulation on the Implementation of Turkish Citizenship Law. In this article, brief information regarding the acquisition of Turkish citizenship by marriage is provided.II. Necessary ConditionsPursuant to Article 16/1 of the law, Turkish citizenship shall not automatically be acquired by marriage with a Turkish citizen, nor does marriage grant any right to apply for citizenship. Citizenship can be acquired only after certain criteria are satisfied and the approval of Ministry of Internal Affairs is obtained.

As indicated in Article 16/1 of the law, the applicant who has been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years and whose marriage still continues can apply for the acquisition of Turkish citizenship. According to Article 16/2, in case the marriage ends by death of the spouse, who is a Turkish citizen, after the application has been lodged, the applicant shall not be required to fulfill this condition. However, as states in Article 25/2/b of the Regulation, in case the marriage ends because of the reasons such as divorce or death before the application, the condition of existing marriage cannot be fulfilled; therefore, the application shall not be accepted. Furthermore, as per Article 25/3 of the Regulation, in case the Turkish spouse acquired his/her Turkish citizenship after birth and not by birth, the time spent in marriage is calculated by considering the date of his/her acquisition of citizenship.

Pursuant to Article 16/1/a of the law, the second condition is that the time must have been spent by living within the unity of marriage. Therefore, the commission shall inspect whether there is an actual marriage and family union.Abstaining from acts incompatible with the unity of marriage is the third condition, as stated in Article 16/1/b of the law. Although this requirement is not completely clear, it is stated in the doctrine that these acts are immoral and illegal acts such as prostitution and white slavery.[i] It is also stated that these acts are those that cause to divorce.[ii]Finally, having no quality constituting an obstacle in respect of national security and public order is the last condition, as specified in Article 16/1/c of the law. This requirement is not clear either; however, Article 11/1/g has the exact same requirement and it is indicated in the preamble of Article 11/1/g that those who have committed a crime against national security, integrity of the state and public order such as weapon and drug smuggling, espionage and forgery of document cannot apply for citizenship. It is also indicated in a decision of the Council of State that committing a crime by using someone else’s credit card is an act against public order.[iii] It seems that even though an applicant fulfills all the criteria in the law, the ministry has a wide discretion on the matter.[iv]III. Related IssuesPursuant to Article 18 of the law, the determination of whether the applicants fulfill the conditions shall be made by the examination commissions formed in the provinces. According to Article 29/1 of the Regulation, the applicant and his/her Turkish spouse shall be separately interviewed by the commission. If the commission determines that the marriage is a fictious transaction, the application shall be denied. Pursuant to Article 72/2 of the Regulation, in case the commission is unable to reach a conclusion on this matter, it shall periodically carry on its examination by also interviewing the Turkish spouse’s relatives until it reaches a conclusion.

Provided that the applicant has not been deported from Turkey and has no quality constituting an obstacle in respect of national security and public order, the loss of Turkish citizenship does not prevent the applicant from acquiring the citizenship again by marriage.

In accordance with Article 16/3 of the law, in case of the declaration of nullity of the marriage, the person who acquires the Turkish citizenship by marriage shall keep the citizenship, provided they had entered into marriage in good faith. The children, however, are not affected from the nullity of the marriage and shall maintain their citizenship regardless of their good faith, as indicated in Article 31/2 of the Regulation.With the exception indicated in Article 16/3, the person shall keep his/her citizenship after the end of the marriage. In addition, the Turkish citizenship acquired by marriage is absolute and therefore the person shall possess the same rights as those who gain Turkish citizenship by birth.[v] Finally, the Turkish citizenship acquired by marriage shall be effective from the date of the acquisition. Thus, if a citizen is requested to be handed over to another country for extradition, in case the person is a Turkish citizen at the time of extradition, the request of extradition must be refused.[vi]IV. ConclusionAs Turkish citizenship shall not automatically be acquired by marriage with a Turkish citizen, certain criteria should be satisfied and also the approval of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be obtained. Firstly, the applicant should have been married to a Turkish citizen for at least three years. Secondly, the time must have been spent by living within the unity of marriage. Abstaining from acts incompatible with the unity of marriage is the third condition. Having no quality constituting an obstacle in respect of national security and public order is the last condition. By taking into account these criteria, the commission tries to determine whether the marriage is a fictious transaction. Furthermore, the loss of Turkish citizenship does not prevent the applicant from acquiring the citizenship again by marriage with certain exceptions. In case of the declaration of nullity of the marriage, the person shall keep the Turkish citizenship provided he/she had entered into marriage in good faith. Finally, the person shall keep his/her citizenship after the end of the marriage and also shall possess the same rights as those who gain Turkish citizenship by birth.[i] Bahadır Erdem, Turkish Citizenship Law, 4th Edition, p. 153 - [Bahadır Erdem, Türk Vatandaşlık Hukuku, 4. Baskı, sf. 153][ii] Ergin Nomer, Turkish Citizenship Law, 20th Edition, p. 98 - [Ergin Nomer, Türk Vatandaşlık Hukuku, 20. Baskı, sf. 98][iii] 10th chamber of the Court of State, decision dated 05/07/2011 and numbered 2011/2874 (Ergin Nomer, Ibid, p. 98).[iv] Ergin Nomer, Ibid, p.99. See also Bahadır Erdem, Ibid, p.152; Vahit Doğan, Turkish Citizenship Law, 12th Edition, p. 95,96 - [Vahit Doğan, Türk Vatandaşlık Hukuku, 12. Baskı, sf.95, 96.][v] Ergin Nomer, Ibid, p.104[vi] Ergin Nomer, Ibid, p.107